Growing numbers of unmarried women in their 20s and 30s who live with their partners do not feel financially secure to have a baby

Half of all abortions are now carried out on unmarried women who are living with a partner, official figures revealed yesterday.

The share of terminations performed on cohabitees has trebled in a decade.

Last year cohabiting women had 86,764 abortions – 50 per cent of all abortions among women who were willing to give details of their relationships.

There were almost two abortions performed on cohabitees for every one undergone by a lone single woman, and three for every one for a married woman.

The fast rise in abortion among women in live-in relationships appears partly to result from financial pressure on couples in their 20s and 30s during the recession, who find themselves expecting a baby but can’t afford one.

Another factor could be women in co-habiting relationships fearing they could end up being left to bring up a baby on their own if their partner leaves them.

The figures may also in part reflect a willingness on the part of women to be open about their living arrangements, when in the past cohabitees having abortions would be more reluctant to admit they had a partner.

The number of women living in cohabiting relationships has doubled since 1996, according to estimates by the Office for National Statistics.

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Around 1.5million women were cohabiting in the mid-1990s. This rose to two million by 2000, 2.5million in 2006, and just under three million now.

This landmark in the use of abortion comes at a time when research suggests a typical cohabitation lasts for just three years before it breaks up or the couple marry.

Research shows that the number of live-in relationships last three years before the couple either break up or marry

By contrast the average divorce comes after 11 years of marriage and an average marriage lasts for 32 years.

In 2002 only 17 per cent of women who had an abortion in England and Wales said they had a partner but were unmarried.

This
went up to 31 per cent in 2005 and then to 42 per cent in 2007 and 2008
as the recession began to bite. The proportion of cohabitees who had
terminations was 49 per cent in 2011, and hit the 50 per cent benchmark
last year.

Overall the
number of abortions in England and Wales dropped slightly in 2012 to
185,122, compared with 189,931 the previous year.

The total number of abortions in England and Wales has dropped in the last year

Alongside
the 86,764 performed on unmarried women with partners, 44,923 were
performed on lone single women, 28,828 on married women, and 10,387 on
unmarried women who would not describe their relationships.

Alarmingly, the figures found there were 89 girls under 16 who had a second abortion, including one who went through her fourth termination.

The only age group among whom abortion numbers rose was women between 30 and 34, up from 29,579 in 2011 to 30,353 last year.

Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation, said: ‘This is what happens when large numbers of couples move in together and become trapped in unhappy cohabiting relationships.

‘The commitment of a couple who decide to marry and build a future is similar to the commitment involved in planning a baby. Cohabiting couples rarely have that commitment.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘We are pleased to see that the number of abortions is falling but we know that more needs to be done. Abortions can be traumatic and stressful and should never be seen as a form of contraception.’